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Reds Reconstruction
Dan O’Brien is doing what he can to reconstruct a team with a very tight budget. Although many other teams are making large splashes with star-caliber players in trades and free-agent signings, he is sweeping up some of the bargains amongst the low-to-mid level players available. Since the Reds suffered through a putrid pitching staff last year, he realized that it was, by far, his top priority going into the off-season. He first set out to re-sign the “ace” of the staff in Paul Wilson. While Paul is not an ace-type pitcher, he brings stability and an innings-horse ability to the rotation. Sure, Paul wouldn’t even be the third starter in some organizations, but with a unpleasant staff and a meager budget, Paul comes relatively cheaply and may be the best they can get.
Dan then set out to acquire solid veteran relievers (David Weathers, Ben Weber, Kent Merker) to solidify a young and unstable bullpen. Sure, they are starting to gather some age, yet they could be very serviceable. Merker is one of the better lefty specialists in the league and Weber was dominating the past two years before an injury sidelined him. If anything, these three will serve as teachers to the young power arms of Ryan Wagner and Joe Valentine to help them improve to what can be two of the better relievers in the National League Central.
Next, O’Brien addressed the woeful starting rotation. The organization had recently acquired some marginal prospects and developed some of their own. Yet, most of them seem to be marginal at best. Prospects like Danny Claussen, Bubba Nelson, Jung Bong, and others may never pan out. The Reds need innings eaters until they can develop an ace or have enough bargaining chips to trade for one.
The first link was to trade for Ramon Ortiz after the Angels decided to keep him rather than non-tender the power arm. Although he struggled last year and seemed to be better suited for the pen, he does have good stuff. It all depends on if he can put it together. This may be the wake-up call he needs, or a new pitching coach may help his development.
Eric Milton continued the solidification of the rotation. Although he carries a somewhat high ERA, Eric will eat innings and survive if there is a decent offense around him. Is he as good as Matt Clement? No. Should he have received as much money, clearly not. Yet the Benson deal threw everything out of whack and Milton is now an overrated pitcher due to a thin market and interest from teams like the Yankees.
O’Brien knew that he needed a regular third-baseman to free up Ryan Freel to do super-utility work. Joe Randa is a decent bridge to young prospect Edwin Encarnacion is able to take over. Although he has a very light bat for a third baseman, he brings good defense at the hot corner to help a young pitching staff.
Yet after all this, I doubt Dan O’Brien’s work is complete. He may look to deal one of his four good outfielders for additional help or a near-ace pitching prospect with Austin Kearn’s name mentioned the most. With a very limited budget he has to work with a Billy Beane mentality, without the good farm system or it’s directors. Except for overpaying for an over hyped Eric Milton, he seems to be doing the right tweaking to at least keep the Reds respectable
